100 and more days ​- boblice stories

​​​​​​​​​​"I promise"

November 2015

It was difficult, but he couldn't help but do it anyway. Stand apart, watch from a distance, prevent his instinct to take over on what was right. He had sat away from her, had avoided her gaze for the entire duration of that meeting and the previous ones and had simply checked her reactions when she didn't look.

It was strange and it was annoying: he had never wanted to be near her so much before and never as now he couldn't do it. Come back to her wouldn't be right, nor a smart move, for any of them.

Few weeks before, Japan.

"Let's go dude, just few more steps" he grumbled, stumbling for the umpteenth time while trying to support the almost inanimate body of his friend along the way to the stairs.

They were in the parking lot of their hotel, returning from a night of drinking to celebrate Hanbin's birthday, the end of the tour and the conquest of a few days of well-deserved rest. Strangely, at the time of leaving, the only one to be still slightly sober and in possession of his senses was Jiwon - besides the younger ones, still underage - and it was their task drag the rest of the group - and also a couple of managers - to the elevator till their floor, all decidedly too drunk to be able to stand up on their own.

Since he wasn't really lucid himself, once reached the privacy of the internal parking lot of the building and after having come down from the van with Hanbin totally leaned on him, he had ended up staying several steps behind the rest of the group to which, after only a few momentes, he shouted to go ahead without them, 'cause they would've reach them slowly as soon as possible.

An "as soon as possible" that he feared wouldn't be so early, though.

After covering only a few meters of distance, in fact, he was forced to stop to catch his breath.

"Dude, I'll said it only now that you're dead drunk and you'll probably not remember a word... you are as heavy as an elephant" he muttered, forcing himself to gather some strength to walk again. But before he could take another step, Hanbin suddently moved back.

"Let go of me..." he murmured, trying to push him aside without much success, at least at the start. 

Surprised, Jiwon simply stared at him for a few moments, very confused.  

"I'll feel guilty if you fall on the ground, bro" he replied, raising an eyebrow. As he spoke those words, he looked at Hanbin who stubbornly kept trying to escape his hold until surprisingly it succeeded.

His escape wasn't long, though, since he was forced to slump against the side of a car only few moments after he got rid of Jiwon.

"Happy?" he asked, crossing his arms, now free and light. "Look, if it's about the elephant, just know that I was joking... You're heavy, but not that much..."

Hanbin initially didn't answer: out of breath and with a frowning look, he continued stare at the floor, perhaps in search of his senses or a way of balancing himself. Sighing, after giving him a few moments to study a plan alone, Jiwon approached him again, determined to continue to help him move.

"Come on, it's clear that it doesn't work. Don't stand on your pride and let me help you" he encouraged him, but when his fingers touched Hanbin's shoulder, he jerked away.

At first, Jiwon couldn't do nothing but stare at him, now really confused by his behavior. He was really drunk, that's true, and it was the first time he drink, but in some way he had the feeling that his attitude wasn't entirely due to alcohol. It was something else, something he wasn't sure he wanted know.